“The Word became Flesh”
Those are amazing words and I’m pretty sure we don’t spend enough time contemplating their significance.
But let me go one step further and express that same thing using slightly different words,…. “God the son became man.”
To help understand the significance of God becoming man we can reach back into the Old Testament to a time when Moses made a request of God. God asked a lot of Moses. He commanded that Moses lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt and guide them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Moses wanted reassurance that God would teach him His ways and that the presence of God would accompany him and the Israelites on their entire journey. So Moses made a request of God which is found in Exodus 33, he said,
“Show me your glory."
God granted Moses’ request, but there were certain conditions. Those conditions weren’t to protect God but to protect Moses.
Exodus 33
And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."
Isn’t that amazing? The glory of God is such that man, in our present nature, cannot look upon the face of God and live. We are weak, He is strong. We are sinful, He is holy. We are created, He is eternal. But God in his love reached out to us “The Word became Flesh”, “God became man.”
Now realize that before Jesus entered this world he shared that same glory that Moses had to be protected from. Listen to these words from Philippians chapter 2 and think about what Jesus gave up to come into this world.
Philippians 2:6-8
Although Jesus existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Let’s remember and celebrate a love so great that Jesus was willing to leave the glory he shared with the Father and not only take on human form but suffer under the hands of his own creation.
